Evangeline's words alone were enough for Bai Zemin to understand everything about what was going on; so it was unnecessary to ask for further explanations.
As an assassin who refused to obey the orders of Kang Rong and Lu Yan, Evangeline was considered a terrifying variant and a thorn in the eyes of those in authority inside the base. After all, no one knew when a shadow could sneak into their sleeping rooms and stab them in the throat while they slept.
In the past, a powerful level 20 soul evolver that could handle dozens of zombies at the same time was killed by Evangeline. This provoked the fury of one of the officials of the base, so this official ordered several troops to surround Evangeline and kill her no matter at what cost. Unfortunately for this person, Evangeline was more powerful than he expected and managed to evade a tight ring of bullets.
The following day, that official was found dead in his bed next to his lover; both had a clean-cut in their throats and their eyes wide open..
From then on, everyone feared and hated this young, beautiful, but fatal killer.
Evangeline was aware that no one wanted her in this place and that she was considered a monstrosity, therefore, she had no choice but to live in secluded places where conditions were not very good. With her strength, she should live in a luxury villa, but due to the circumstances mentioned above, such a thing was not possible.
To prevent the children from being used against her, the young assassin of mixed blood could only hide the children in the outer perimeter of the western zone, the most dangerous and least guarded area.
It was only through her constant efforts to go out and explore the outside world, risking her life to hunt different creatures, that these children were able to eat well and wear clean clothes.
For these powerless children, children who had lost their loved ones in different ways during the previous month and whose lives had practically collapsed before their eyes, Evangeline was all they had and the only person they could trust.
Bai Zemin looked at the bags with food and the small bags with some clothes in the children's hands and sighed in his hearth.
Who would have thought that this young woman actually had such a warm and kind heart? Many times, one could not be guided by outward appearances. Wasn't this a clear example of that? Evangeline might have cold and lethal eyes, but she was one of the few people in this world who went out of her way to help those who really couldn't do anything for themselves.
I'm glad I didn't kill her at that moment. Such a thought flashed automatically in Bai Zemin's mind as his lips curved upward slightly.
"All right. I'll give you a villa so you can accommodate the children." He nodded with natural calm. "However, you'd better not get too settled in since you won't be able to live there for a long time."
"Why?" She replied with a faint frown.
She didn't think a villa was something valuable for a person like Bai Zemin, as there were plenty of houses around and even in the eastern part of the base there were luxurious houses waiting for their new occupants. Therefore, there must have been a much more important reason for him to say such words.
Bai Zemin gestured towards the living room, and Evangeline understood his meaning. She nodded before looking at the children and said calmly, "Okay kids, you can go play in the backyard. You may not go to the front of the house. Am I clear?"
"Yes, big sister!"
All the children nodded with serious expressions hard to see in the past on the faces of such young ones. Even though Evangeline's voice was indifferent, all these children already knew that this was her natural personality and that she genuinely cared about them.
Bai Zemin looked at one of the maids who had just approached upon hearing the commotion and ordered, "Take the children to the backyard. If there are any toys or balls give it to them to play with. You keep an eye on them."
"Understood." The pretty maiden bowed slightly and soon left, leading the children as if she were the mother of several chicks.
Sitting in the living room, Bai Zemin calmly explained the situation to Evangeline. He told her that the idea was to move all the survivors south and how a group of people would arrive to help during the move.
After listening to his explanation, she nodded to herself and finally it all made sense to her. In fact, if they would soon be leaving the base then it wasn't necessary to make too many changes; it was just a matter of waiting.
"However, if you want to move over 3000 people, I'm afraid it won't be that easy to accomplish." Evangeline pointed out with a frown.
Shangguan Bing Xue took a sip of apple tea and nodded: "Indeed, she is right. Many people have already settled here and I doubt they are all willing to leave their homes. From the point of view of many survivors who haven't seen zombies or mutant beasts for a long time, this area was safe and they didn't need to worry about their safety. Some of them will definitely believe that they have no reason to follow you. What will you do then?"
Bai Zemin smiled slightly and replied without any fluctuations in his voice, "If there are people who wish to stay here, then they are free to stay here. As simple as that. I am not interested in the northern area of China for now and my target is only the south. This is not even our real base and I honestly don't feel comfortable in this place. I don't have the time or inclination to pay attention to small fry."
If they didn't want to leave then let them stay here, Bai Zemi didn't care. In fact, if it wasn't for Lilith practically pushing him to build a faction with everything she had told him since the beginning of the apocalypse, he wouldn't even have bothered to save all these people. However, even though he needed to build a faction, he could not be bothered any less with those who thought they were untamable.
Such people would be cast aside or simply killed if they bothered him too much. Simple as that.
"I see. Since you already know what you'll do then it's fine." Evangeline said nothing more after hearing Bai Zemin's clear answer.
Soon, the room was silent as they had nothing to talk about.
After a while, Bai Zemin stood up and said that he had to do some things before leaving without giving too much explanation about it.
Evangeline also stood up and asked some maids to help her move the bags. Since they would soon be leaving here, then there was no need to look for a villa; she would stay here with the children. The boys could sleep in groups of two or three per room and the same with the girls, there was no problem considering that there were more than ten free rooms.
Shangguan Bing Xue sat quietly and while enjoying some sweet desserts, she listened as the Nangong siblings chatted with each other.
"I bet you don't believe me what Bai Zemin told me while we were on our way to the hideout where the arsenal was?"
"Uh? What?"
"Remember the noise last night?"
"The noise last night...? Oh! That sexy moan?"
"Yeah... Well, that's what."
"What? Did he tell you who the woman he slept with is? It can only be a maid of this house, of course!"
"No, actually the matter is not as simple as it seems."
"Uh? What do you mean?"
"Well, even though there really was a woman in his bed, they weren't having sex!"
"Pffft- Hahaha, yeah, sure. Big brother, your room is located closer to his room than mine, there's no way you didn't hear those two hard slaps and the two seductive moans. Especially the last one! She seemed to enjoy it hehe."
"Lingxin, I'm serious. Really-"
Bang
Nangong Yi was interrupted by a loud bang and looking over saw Shangguan Bing Xue setting the now empty teacup down in a not very careful manner on the table.
She looked at him and said coldly, "I didn't know that men also like gossip. Even less so considering your age."
The corner of Nangong Yi's mouth twitched as he heard Shangguan Bing Xue's slightly colder than usual tone and her words. He secretly cursed inwardly since all he was trying to do was to clear up misunderstandings that might make things awkward and difficult in the future.
"Rather than gossip, I'd say I'm just trying to clear up a misunderstanding." Nangong Yi replied calmly as he looked at her with a serene and honest expression.
Shangguan Bing Xue said nothing about it and stood in silence.
Nangong Yi continued, "Although I don't know who that woman is, since Bai Zemin never said her name, the real reason was because actually..."
As the two women listened in silence, the two had different reactions during the process of the explanation. While everything seemed in order, there were actually some things that didn't make much sense.
"I know there are blank parts here, but if we think about it carefully, why on earth would Bai Zemin lie?" Nangong Yi concluded with the same reason that convinced him earlier: "He is a young man, he has no girlfriend, he has power, and he doesn't need to give explanations to anyone about his actions. Even if he sleeps with a woman, so what? He doesn't need to say why he did it nor does he need others to understand his motives. So, since he said these words himself, naturally they must be true. Otherwise, I simply don't understand why he would lie."
"Could it be shyness?... Hmm, no, can't be that." Nangong Lingxin shook her head and muttered, "Although we've only known each other for less than 1 week, he doesn't seem to be a shy man at all. On the contrary, he seems to say whatever he feels like saying without a care in the world."
"Right?" Nangong Yi nodded as he looked at his sister in agreement.
" Whatever the case may be..." Shangguan Bing Xue slowly stood up and walked towards the exit as she calmly said, "Those are his personal matters. I don't think we should stick our noses into other people's lives."
Nangong Yi and Nangong Lingxin watched her small back about to disappear into the corner of the corridor when she suddenly stopped and said indifferently, "Besides, Nangong Yi. I think you might be misunderstanding something so I'll say this just in case... The person who is interested in Bai Zemin is not me but Wu Yijun."
After saying those words, Shangguan Bing Xue left. As for where she was going, since she didn't say anything no one knew.
"Eh? Is Wu Yijun interested in Bai Zemin?" Nangong Lingxin was stupefied.
"That's also a surprise to me..." Nangong Yi muttered under his breath before scratching his head and muttering again in the same tone, "Was I wrong?"
"Why? You think Shangguan Bing Xue is also interested in him?" Nangong Lingxin was very shocked this time. "No way that can't be, can it? She's always so cold to everyone. Even that handsome guy named Chen He who actively pursues her can't get anything even though they seem to be friends from a young age."
Nangong Yi sighed in exasperation and ruffled his hair before saying loudly, "To hell with this. Let the younger ones settle their own business, this old man is no longer at ages to worry about romance! Besides, I don't want to end up frozen to death for meddling where I don't belong. If she likes or doesn't like him, well if she doesn't know then I'm not going to know. In any case, the ones who will suffer will be those who misunderstand or simply can't understand their own hearts at all!"
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A/N: Okay. 3/3 chaps today
Thanks a lot to all those who use their Golden Tickets to vote for BW <3